UW Synergy Program Students Raise Funds for Grassroots Programs in Kenya

November 26, 2012

University of Wyoming students will sell T-shirts, chocolate
and silicone bracelets from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27 and Thursday, Nov.
29, in the Wyoming Union to raise money for a Kenyan nonprofit organization’s
grassroots programs.

Freshmen students in the Synergy Program class "Images
of a Continent, Old and New: Exploring African Cultures" will raise funds
for Harakati ya Kilimo-Uhifadhi nonprofit organization’s (NPO) educational and
agricultural programs.

Gatua wa Mbugwa, the course instructor, says the current
students designed the T-shirts, while earlier students designed the silicone
bracelets. This is the third consecutive year that UW Synergy freshmen students
raised funds for the Kenyan NPO.

The students also will hand out fliers for "Beyond
Images of a Continent, Old and New: Exploring African Cultures in Kenya,"
a UW summer study abroad course that wa Mbugwa teaches in Kenya. Enrollment in
the course is under way.

The Kenyan NPO manages a research and training program in
conservation agriculture for small farms, an adult education program that aims
to attain 100 percent literacy for the community, a self-help farmers’ economic
improvement program and an after-school program that gives elementary school
children access to books and other literacy materials.

The “Images of a Continent, Old and New: Exploring African
Cultures” Synergy course explores U.S. and global impacts of African cultures
and history. Students critically examine issues and impacts of African writing
and literature, music, agriculture, politics, religion, medicine and education.

Synergy is a nationally acclaimed learning community for
first-year UW students that provides a challenging set of courses in a supportive
environment.